It’s hard to explain the absolute crush of people who come to Canal Park and Bayfront to see these tall ships. It’s one of the biggest, most consistent draws in local tourism, rivaling the Bentleyville Christmas light display.

My family and I attended the last time the festival was in Duluth in 2016. As I wrote at the time, the ships are really cool but the lines just to step on board were prohibitively long. We waited almost two hours and people who arrived after us waited up to four hours. I would imagine addressing this problem is among the festival’s chief tasks.

The real appeal of the event is to your imagination. You see how sailors used to live, how people traveled to and from places like Duluth 150 years ago. You walk into a story, not just a ship.

The 2019 Duluth Festival of Sail will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 11 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 12 and Tuesday, Aug. 13.

Tickets range from $12 for a single-day pass to $150 for the full sailing experience.

Lake Time Magazine “Best of Minnesota” Award: Best Writer & Blog

Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range

By Aaron Brown
A 21st century memoir of a place and a people:
(Buy now on Amazon) -- The Iron Range is a string of blue collar towns along an iron formation in northern Minnesota, many of which ... Read More →

The Great Northern Radio Show features music, comedy & stories about modern life off the beaten path: written, produced & hosted by Aaron J. Brown with a talented supporting troupe and the best Minnesota musicians and guests. Each episode of the Great Northern Radio Show is broadcast from a different small town or off-the-wall ... Read More →